Spring 2007

ANS 301M • Introduction to Japanese Film

Course Description

This course will offer a broad survey of Japanese cinema, including early silent films, fictional feature films, documentaries, and anime (animated films). The goals of this course are: to gain a familiarity with and appreciation for Japanese films and culture, to learn the basic history of Japanese cinema, to acquire the necessary vocabulary and tools for analyzing films as cinematic texts, and to develop critical thinking skills when viewing, discussing, and writing about film. This class requires no background in Japanese language, film, or history; all films are subtitled in English.

FILMS Seven Samurai, Double Suicide, Tampopo, An Actor's Revenge, Fireworks, Ballad of Narayama, Life of Oharu, Selections from Materpieces of Japanese Silent Cinema, Late Spring, Page of Madness, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Grave of the Fireflies Patriotism The Emperor's Naked Army

Texts

Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Tokyo: Kodansha Int'l, 2001 (revised ed.).

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